Google and the American Songwriter website must always have me in their cross hairs. Every day when I go online, there is an AS article recommendation. I have stated in previous blogs how I don’t value its content too much due to trying to be too politically correct and implementing the whole DEI thing way too much.
This article popped up a few days ago: https://americansongwriter.com/5-female-fiddle-players-breaking-barriers/
Again, the magazine/website is trying so hard to be “catching the wave” of the whole DEI movement. I highly doubt that they would ever publish an article on five MALE fiddlers pushing the barriers. They listed these five females: Eileen Ivers, Brittany Haas, Sara Watkins, Alison Krauss, and Lucia Micarelli. A good list to be sure, but there are a few women fiddlers that probably should be on here, such as Natalie McMaster and Annie Staninec. I always question why AS chooses such oddball numbers instead of sticking with a Top 10. Perhaps the writers are just too damned lazy to do more than 15 minutes of research.
However, the article did get me to thinking about women and bluegrass music. The fiddle position in bluegrass bands seems to have a great amount of females. Two of my favorite fiddle players (who just happen to be good friends as well) are female – Brittany Haas and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes. Off the cuff, I can name a lot more gal fiddlers along with those already mentioned: Becky Buller, Laurie Lewis, Kimber Ludicker, Rayna Gellert, Maddie Denton, Ivy Phillips, Kitty Amaral, Deanie Richardson, and Mary Rachel Nalley-Norris to start. That doesn’t include other roots-based female fiddlers such as April Verch, Sophie Lavoie, Jenee Fleenor, Lena Jonsson, Stephanie Cadman, and Miranda Mulholland among others.
This made me think about why so many women are playing fiddle in bluegrass bands. First off, I remember when, in elementary school, the early music program had us choosing what instrument we wanted to learn. Boys always seemed to go for saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and drums/percussion, while girls went for flutes, clarinets, and violins. A boy playing a violin was thought to be a sissy, and looking through high school yearbooks, the photos of the orchestra seemed to mirror that choice, with perhaps one or two male cello or bass players.
I was guilty of that thought for all of my school years, and only knew one male violinist and one cellist. I never even thought of playing fiddle until I started playing in acoustic and bluegrass bands. Being already in my late 30s, it was a steep hill to climb to learn a new instrument. I first thought that because I was playing guitar and bass, along with a little mandolin, the move to learning the fiddle would be easy. BAH! I can’t count the number of times that I wish I could turn back the hands of time to my 4th grade class and say that I wanted to learn the violin. Sissy names be damned!
Back in the early days of bluegrass, if there was a female in the band, they were usually regulated to playing the upright bass. Thanks to acts such as Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard and The Coon Creek Girls, bluegrass began to recognize women as a driving force in the format. Of course, Alison Krauss helped put women on the bluegrass map fiercely in the mid-1980s, and the format has been encouraging for ladies ever since.
Bluegrass has never really “pigeon holed” female performers like other formats. While you may see a lot of statements such as “the female Elvis” or “the female Jimi Hendrix,” women performing in bluegrass, especially fiddlers, have made a name for themselves without having the press resorting to gender comparisons since the 1980s. Musicians should only be judged on their work, not on their gender, race, or creed.
Here’s a clip from a long time back by Belle Starr, with Stephanie Cadman and Miranda Mulholland. I really miss this trio, they should have hit it big. We’ll follow it up with my friend Brittany Haas (with Chris Thile).
Chew on it and comment.
Luegra 